


the adventurous adventures of flirting on national radio

by tinashesgay



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, BBC Radio 1, Banter, Everyone Is Gay, Flirting, M/M, Strangers to Idiots to Lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Swearing, aight i'm doing that, did i do it, english is not my first language, here we go i guess, how in the world is that not a tag, i've never posted on the archieve before how do i do this, no beta: we die like stubborn bastards, shit i have to write a summary, should i rate this teen and up for the swearing, so sorry for wasting time with these absolutely useless tags here goes the real ones, tw swearing, where do i put trigger warnings i dont get this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29942385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinashesgay/pseuds/tinashesgay
Summary: Harry drops his phone on the tube. It's not the end of the world, but it might as well be when it turns out someone else found it before him.
Relationships: Harry Styles & Nick Grimshaw, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	the adventurous adventures of flirting on national radio

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaaaaayo,
> 
> hello people of the universe, here goes my first fic on the archieve! forgive me for the tags and the god-awful summary. i'm running on coffee and the power of gay.
> 
> and like, listen,, i literally do not have any idea of how BBC radio 1 works. i am simply a swedish lesbian, trying her best. use your imagination, folks, it's my radio station now.
> 
> i totally stole the title from mark parson.

"Shit!" 

Harry was so, so late. "Shit, shit, shit, god-fucking-dammit!" 

Tripping over the pavement, he tried his best not to spill the iced coffee in his left hand. In his right, he carried his sleek, brand new laptop. He'd just gotten promoted, and had hoped to make a good first impression at his new job. All that had gone down the drain the minute he missed his first alarm, and also the other ten he'd set in case he missed the first one.

Lucky for Harry, Nick Grimshaw was a pretty cool guy. Harry was probably not getting fired. He was getting very, very embarassed, though. Stumbling down the stairs to the tube station, he dared a glance at his watch. He had 5 minutes. 

Clenching his jaw, he quickened his pace even more. He could work with 5 minutes.

Okay, so turns out Harry could absolutely not work with 5 minutes. 

...

He'd just managed to catch the tube as it was about to leave, but wasn't so lucky that he got a seat. Whatever, that was fine, he was only supposed to go a couple stations anyways. What was not fine, was the very pretty boy that ended up gripping the handle right next to Harry.

"Jesus fucking Christ on a stick", he muttered lowly, pretending to check his watch again. Suddendly he was overly aware of his own appearance, wondering if his usually so styled curly hair was very messy. He hadn't spent a lot of time on it this morning. There was, after all, no such thing as filming on the radio.

Harry ran a hand through it, just in case, and dared a glance at the pretty stranger. He had soft, brown hair that was falling into his incredibly blue eyes. The very tip of his nose sported a few freckles, probably a courtesy of the unusually sunny weather. Harry admired the sight of the slightly reddened cheeks and followed the outline of the boy's sharp cheekbones, down to the soft curv of his lips. They were an amazing shade of pink, and looked very nice to kiss. Or be kissed by. On the cheek, on the lips, perhaps a bit lower and- nope. 

Harry quickly averted his eyes again. He was not about to get a hard-on on the tube. Like some kind of teenager. Was not happening.

A couple minutes passed, and Harry was getting ready for his stop when the middle aged man that had been standing to his right suddendly stumbled into him. Holding on to the handle, he managed to stay upright but a few of his things slipped out of his hands. He cringed as his new laptop hit the floor and quickly bent down to check on it. 

The older man was standing upright again, furiously apologising, but Harry waved him off. He definitely did not have time for this right now. He needed to make sure his laptop was okay, and then get off at the right station so that he could get to his goddamn work.

He recognised his stop, just as he'd finished checking the scrapes on his poor, poor laptop and hurried towards the exit, not noticing his phone that was still laying on the tube floor, or a certain blue eyed boy's shouting at him to wait.

...

Work was hectic. It always was, working at BBC Radio 1, but it was especially hectic to assist Nick Grimshaw with his program. Harry had been over the moon when he'd gotten the news about his promotion, but the glamour of it had kind of faded the 4th time Nick asked Harry to get him coffee. Harry was also pretty sure he'd been mentioned at least thrice in Nick's storytelling, and he was a bit too busy to hear exactly which stories he'd been telling England, so it kept him on edge.

Lunch break was a much needed relief. He could almost relax, eating his tuna sandwich and drinking his organic smoothie, but Nick (that little fucker) kept smirking at him from across the table. He was either in some kind of trouble, or Nick had something planned. Harry didn't like either options.

Later, as they were getting ready to go into the studio again, it turned out to be the second one.

"You're going in with me", Nick calmly stated, three minutes before start. Harry blinked. And did it again.

"I am doing what now?" Nick let out a chuckle.

"You're going in the studio with me", he said, eyes twinkling with mischief. "C'mon, you don't want to miss this. It will be funny as fuck." Then he grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him inside the studio, Harry's various protests falling on a deaf ear. "Hush, you're gonna be fine. Just smile and sound pretty, they're gonna love you."

"Remind me the purpose of this?" Harry rubbed his arm, as Nick let go. 

"Um, no", Nick said, sitting down across from him and grabbing a pair of headphones. "That would just ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?"

"No", Harry huffed, grabbing a pair of headphones of his own. "It wouldn't. It would ruin my anxiety, though." Nick gave him a shoulder pat.

"We're on in fifteen", he reported.

"Seconds?" Harry screeched, staring at the cruel man across from him.

"Yes, now shut up 'til I introduce you", Nick gave him one last reassuring smile. "And three... two... Afternoon, everybody, it is Monday, it's just gone 1 PM and our guest is here, just as I promised you guys on twitter, welcome Harry Styles!"

"Thanks?" Harry managed to squeak out. Oh god, kill him.

"How are you today?" Nick gave him another smirk. What the fuck was he playing at?

"I'm not too bad actually", Harry said, fighting to keep his voice steady. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, of fuck-

"You're being a bit weird today", Nick supplies, sending Harry spiraling into another set of panicking thoughts.

"Am I?"

"Not bad weird", Nick said. "Just not as ususal." Doing a bit of a weird combination of a shrug and a nod, Nick continued. "Don't think I've ever seen you go so long without your phone?"

"Oh really?" Harry said absently, going through the day in his mind. "Can't remember when I last used it, yeah." He added as an afterthought. Nick smiled again.

"Do you have any idea of where it is right now?" He asked, and Harry tried to remember.

"Don't think so, no", he said, narrowing his eyes at Nick. "I feel like I'm missing something here?" Nick, who was a horrible friend and collegue let out a loud laugh.

"You've no idea, do ya?" Harry glanced at the corner of the room, where their sound guy, Jeffrey, was standing. Jeffrey gave him thumbs up. "Harry, where's your phone?" Nick repeated his question.

"I... don't know?" Harry said, and looked over att Jeffrey again. "Help me, Jeffrey", Harry said, voice now wavering. Jeffrey rolled his eyes as Nick laughed.

"No, Jeffrey", he said. "Harry. Harry, does the tube station ring any bells?"

"Fuck." Harry's hand quickly moved to cover his own mouth. "Can I swear here? No, I can't. God, I'm sorry." Nick let out another laugh.

"You're fine, Harold", he said. "Do you wanna know what happened to your phone?" Harry gave him a frustrated look.

"Yes, dear, I'd very much like to hear what happened to my phone", he said. After a moment of consideration he added: "Please." Another. "Pretty please." Deciding that it was all or nothing he added: "With a cherry on top?"

"Why, Harold, since you were asking so nicely", Nick smirked at him. "So, the tube station." Harry nodded.

"The tube station", he said. "I dropped my laptop." Nick raised an eyebrow "And also my phone?" 

"That's right, Harold", Nick said, wiggling his eyebrows. "And you know what happened to your phone?"

"Pretty boy", Harry blurted out, like the complete idiot he was. "Fu-rick." If pretty boy had anything to do with this at all, he would probably be listening right now. Jesus Christ, Harry was so fucked.

"Pretty boy, huh, Harold?" Suddendly Nick sounded like he was having the time of his life. "Would that happen to be a boy with brown hair and, oh, I don't know, the vibrantly blue kind of eyes?" Harry's head was on the desk.

"Have I ever told you I hate you."

"You certainly have, Harold, more times than I can count." As Harry lifted his head slightly, he just managed to catch Nick winking at Jeffrey before he spoke again. "Now, without further ado, please welcome Pretty Boy, or as his actual name is, Louis Tomlinson, to the studio!"

What.

Harry spun around. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. God-fucking-dammit. Someone come kill him. Run him over with a truck. Rip his soul out and burn his body. Send him to the very gates of hell. Anything but this situation would be fine.

Because, fucking hell, Pretty Boy was smirking at Harry, his phone in hand and it was sending jolts down Harry's spine. Quickly taking a place next to Harry, Louis (a very pretty name for a very pretty boy), put on a pair of headphones and spoke.

"Hello, Nick", he said, casually as if this was an everyday type of situation.

"Hello, Louis", Nick replied, grinning.

"Kill me now, Jeffrey", Harry managed to get out, because fuck, Louis voice was high pitched and a little raspy, and if it wasn't the sexiest voice Harry had ever heard-

"How you doing there, Harold?" Nick's voice interrupted his thougths, and he coughed a little.

"Just fine, thanks Nick", he said, not daring to glance at Louis. Nick smirked at him.

"You look a little rosy."

"Yeah, well, you just decided to humiliate me on national radio so I'd say I'm allowed." Louis let out a surprised laugh as Harry blushed even harder and buried his head in his hands. Nick decided to take mercy on him and started up a conversation about Louis that he thankfully didn't have to take part in. Keeping his head in his hands, he listened as they spoke.

Nick made it short and sweet, skipping to the interesting parts such as "How did you and Harry meet?", "How did you know the phone was his?" and the final "Did you find him as pretty as he found you?" Harry only listened with half an ear to the first ones, already knowing the story. However, he perked up when he heard the last one. Louis laughed, and told Nick that "he hadn't had the chance to look closely, but the curls sure did seem promising", and what the fuck was that supposed to mean?

Before he knew it, Nick was tying the inpromptu interview up, giving Harry the chance to escape. Except. He hadn't actually gotten his phone back yet. 

He tried to subtly get Louis to hand it over, but he couldn't get him to look Harry in the eyes. Not as they said their goodbyes to Nick (and the entirety of England), not as they were getting out of their chairs, not as they'd left the room and not as Louis was casually walking down the corridor towards the exit. Harry figured there was only one thing left to do.

"Hey!" He yelled out, trying to get Louis to stop. Not necessarily to turn around, though. Harry was very happy with the view of Louis's backside. It was truly a glorious bum. Realising that Louis had actually stopped a few moments ago, Harry continued. "My phone?" Louis smirked at him.

"I was wondering when you would work up the courage to ask", Louis said, walking towards him. Harry was disappointed at the loss of a nice view. 

"Excuse you", he pouted. "I'm plenty brave." Louis just laughed as he handed him back his black iPhone 8. 

"Keep telling yourself that, mate", he said, winking at Harry. "Pretty sure I didn't see your face once, once I'd stepped into that studio." He paused. "Which I have to say is a damn shame." Harry raised an eyebrow as Louis, not so subtly, checked him out.

"Look, on any other day I'd flirt, but I was just on national radio calling you Pretty Boy, so I don't think I have it in me." Louis let out the same kind of surprised laugh he'd laughed back in the studio. Harry thought he might fall in love with it. It was that sort of beautiful. 

"Alright then", Louis said. "But I hope you don't mind I took the liberty of stealing your number." He gestured at the phone now in Harry's hands. "You know, in case you feel better on the flirting front another day?" Despite his confident aura, Harry could see the uncertainy in Louis's smile. He was actually nervous. Harry smiled softly.

"I'd very much like to try out my flirting skills another day, yes", he said, letting out a giggle. "Call me maybe?" Louis rolled his eyes.

"Like the song?" Harry just smiled, his face the picture of innocence.

"Fine, you big dork", Louis said, shaking his head as he started to walk down the corridor again. "Friday work for you?" Harry grinned at Louis's retreating back (and bum).

"Friday's perfect!" He yelled. "See you then, Pretty Boy!" Louis waved as he closed the door. Smiling softly to himself, Harry turned around to get back to Nick. And walked right into him.

"You know, if I knew you were so horrible at flirting I'd have signed you up for classes, like, ages ago, I-" Harry slapped his shoulder as he brushed past him.

"Shut up, Nick", he muttered, face once again the color of a beet.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! love y'all, have a great day and all that.  
> (i do appreaciate feedback. feel free to yell at me in the comments.)


End file.
